The plan seeks greater tourism with high purchasing power, promoting travel among the vulnerable population and promoting the development of the communities.

In Chetumal, Quintana Roo, the National Tourism Strategy 2018-2024 was presented with which the federal government seeks to attract tourists from countries with high economic potential such as the United Arab Emirates, Korea, the United Kingdom and Japan, as a complement to the United States, as well as diversify the offer of tourist products, improve the position 15 of Mexico as a receiver of foreign currency, and charge a tax to hosting platforms such as Airbnb in order to increase the tourist promotion of the states.

In the Chetumal convention center, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador led the ceremony, along with the Governor of Quintana Roo, Carlos Joaquín González; the Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco, and the Secretary of the Environment, Josefa González Ortiz, among other officials. Lopez Obrador said that tourism represents 22,000 million dollars for the national economy, income only surpassed by the automotive industry and the reception of remittances from the United States.

“That’s why we care a lot about maintaining the sector’s economic growth and continuing to create jobs.We are going to carry out a plan to grow throughout the country, but we want to support tourism and at the same time support regions that lag behind in terms of growth, employment, and well-being; it’s like a paradox this region of the southeast, “he said.

He said that the Mayan Train tender will be launched soon: “I am very happy that the Mayan train is being well accepted, it will help a lot, it is an important infrastructure project. We are going to do it with the participation of the public sector, the private sector and the social sector; It is an investment of around 120,000 million pesos.

He said that it will be based on five axes: consolidate the regional development of the southeast with infrastructure projects (Tren Maya); regionalize destinations with tourist vocation; increase spending to be better than the first internationally; increase the economic development of the communities that are in tourist destinations, and diversify the markets to market more tourism products (identify anchor products, such as China Town in Mexicalli).

“We have to remember that the harsh reality is that we are in the 15th position of raising foreign currency, in 40th in per capita spending; if we add what was invested only in the six years of (Felipe) Calderón, which were 13,000 million pesos for the Tourism Promotion Council of Mexico, and that figure reached 24,000 million pesos in the past administration; the balance was the 15th place of capture of foreign currency and 40 in per capita expenditure, “he reproached. He indicated that the National Strategy contemplates that the Enjoy Mexico program will be launched, which will be the continuity of the Viajemos todos por México program that was implemented by the previous government, and which means agreements with national tour operators to offer low-cost packages.

He mentioned that Sonrisas por México will be a pilot program of social tourism, so that low-income Mexicans travel for free. The Operación Toca Puertas program will be implemented so that embassies and consulates position Mexico in niches of high purchasing power, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, India, China, Japan, Korea and Russia.

The Monitoring and Information System and the National Tourism Registry will be strengthened to provide information on international travelers, air arrivals, hotel occupancy, transportation, museums, food establishments, travel agencies, tourist guides and other indicators.

They will regulate AIRBNBMiguel Torruco reported that he works with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit to regulate digital hosting platforms such as Airbnb. “An eternal struggle that took the tourism sector, especially the hotel, which I had to live as national president of hoteliers, today will be a reality: to avoid the hotel extra-hotel is a negative part and competes unfairly with the hotel industry of the country. “For this reason, we are already working with the Secretary of the Treasury in the working groups with the Undersecretariat of Regulations that Humberto Hernández presides to carry out the audit of the hotel extra-hotel offer in the case of Airbnb-type platforms,” ​​he said.

The five axes of AMLO’s tourism plan

1. The Mayan Train. Its passage through the states of Quintana Roo, Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco and Yucatan will frame the most important integration and regional development belt in history, says the Sectur.

3. Strengthen the domestic market. With this, the domestic tourist potential will be increased, to reduce seasonality in low and medium seasons through the programs: Enjoy Mexico and Sonrisas por México.

4. Diversification of markets, promotion of effective business and development of marketing schemes is a project that responds to the need to make our offer more profitable, diversify, segment and explore emerging, consolidated, potential and exploratory markets.

5. Multi-sectoral and inter-institutional linkage. This approach to well-being and integral development is considered as an element of linkage with the dependencies, entities, state and municipal governments, to ensure the due complementarity of actions and resources.